Signs point to 2014 for PS4

While almost everyone believes the Xbox 720 will launch next year, the PS3 has at least another year in it.

M2 Research analyst Billy Pidgeon believes that the PS3 will drop in price, and that Sony will continue to boast strong sales for the rest of 2012 and all of 2013.

"A dramatic price reduction to $150 for PS3 would be terrific for Sony and for the industry overall. A value-priced PS3 could rapidly increase the base and would free up more consumer revenue for higher software sales volume. Sony already has a strong edge in Europe, but the economy is weak and generous hardware price cuts will have big impact. Microsoft would suffer deeper market share loss in Europe and with value pricing PS3 could outsell Xbox 360 in the U.S. where Microsoft has dominated monthly hardware sales," Pidgeon said.

For the first time ever, we have 5- to 6-year-old consoles that are still chugging along. So, from Sony's perspective, what point is there to revealing a PS4? What could it do that the PS3 can't? If the answer is "not much," then there's no reason to unveil new hardware.

This is of course uncharted territory for the console gaming market. Never before has a console lived on for more than five years with virtually no one wondering when the next one would come.

The Xbox 360 is admittedly starting to show its age and there have been far more many rumors about its successor than there have been for the PS4. Don't expect a Sony announcement in this realm any time soon.

In fact, Sony looks to instead be preparing a redesign of the PS3. Among the details believed to be true are that it will have Bluetooth and 802.11b/g, and will come in models all the way up to 500 GB.

It could very well be Sony's way of saying that its console is still alive and kicking, and that gamers should not begin thinking about the PS4.